How To Create Essential Oil Blends
Using essential oil blends starts with knowing a little bit about how the oils impact on us.
Decades of research has gone into the understanding of the inexact science of the use of essential oils for specific situations.
The thing is, essential oils affect us emotionally as much as physiologically – which is much harder for scientists to understand. They make us feel better – or, more specifically, when we are feeling unease, essential oils offer a reversal effect by triggering both emotive and physiological effects on the brain. It’s a super interesting area. For beginners (and yes – I guess also for doubters), the easiest first step is to try a pre-blended mix of oils, because blends are premixed to meet a condition or situation with a multi faceted approach. One essential oil will help. A blend of different oils will add depth and nuances to the delivery.
Thus, we have included in Calm Blend universal calming essential oils.
For most people, and definitely for beginners, only the blend will be required at first – but the most you understand and appreciate the nuances of what each oil produces and how they work in synergy. The more blends you learn about, the more global your understanding will be. Pettigrain, Neroli & Roman Chamomile as a trio are useful when the state of not-calm ascends to the next level. Not required for most stages of worry, so not included in the general calm blend, but if you tend to wander at times from standard ‘worried’ to ‘slightly panicked’, you will want to add a drop of each of those three oils to the blend – kind of like building a stronger fortress. Geranium, Lemon & Bergamot are all used in uplifting and balancing blends – generally with other teammates – if your anxiety is from a level of depression, try adding a drop of each of those to your calm blend to create calm, balance and uplift. Where lack of rest or the overactive brain syndrome is one of the key factors, try adding Frankincense, Lavender and Basil to the Calm Blend to allow rest and a refocus as well as a calming. The thing is, a blend is focused on a specific group of issues – and can be customised to a situation, but where all else fails – if anxiety is your issue, go with Calm Blend first.
Essential Oils for Emotional Uplift – Uplift Blend
Well – this is a topic I could write about all day. Reduction of anxiety is in fact a form of uplifting, so it should not come as a surprise that some oils are in both blends. I chose to put bergamot essential oil in the Uplift Blend, as I felt that it offered more to Uplift, but Bergamot is a very commonly added in oil to Calm Blend (along with Frankincense and Lavender for restful callm). Uplift Blend includes orange essential oil, bergamot essential oil (so commonly used together they should be a blend in their own right), geranium essential oil (my personal favourite) and ginger essential oil. Ginger is an interesting oil. It is known to add a sense of optimism, while geranium has a balancing, positivity enhancing effect and orange, bergamot and lemon are the sunny, happy citrus oils. To diffuse this blend in the bathroom while you shower (or even drop some on a flannel hanging in the shower box (don’t apply the oils directly to your skin) will lift spirits immediately. Try to also get outside in the sun, or at least among trees to increase exposure to the sun – or walk by the beach or a riverside. Uplift is very powerful and mentally restful. Uplift Blend is basically a dialling up of the happy. For an increased impact, more uplifting oils can be added to Uplift Blend. Handy additions would be
- Mandarin
- Rose
- Cypress
- Rosewood
- Fennel
- Frankincense
- Ylang Ylang
- Rosemary
If the cause of lack of uplift due to a situation like grief, generally sadness, pessimism or non acute emotional upset – look to some of the core Calm Blend oils to add to Uplift blend – marjoram, for example, which offers comfort – or Cypress. Understanding the condition or cause enables you to better provide the best combination of essential oils.
Energise Blend
Who doesn’t need some focus, clarity and added zing from time to time! Energise Blend is very popular for daytime office situations and environments where things just need to get done! Energise Blend includes rosemary essential oil, orange essential oil, lemon essential oil, ginger essential oil and bergamot essential oil. Energise Blend is our most complex essential oil blend. To increase focus even further, a drop of peppermint could be added, but we decided not to include that in the blend because it is a little potent for some people – probably not a beginner oil – and it’s contraindicated for pregnant women and infants. Post natal mums often look to essential oils for stability in the early days of sleeplessness – uplift and energise blends are both excellent for those hard working early-mom days! You can see in comparing Energise Blend to Uplift Blend, that some of the oils are the same. The way you augment your core blend is how you tweak Uplift Blend toward a ‘productivity blend’, and to add ‘restfulness’, you’d tweak it toward the Calm Blend oils, if that makes sense. The final standard blend that we have brought into our range is the Deep Rest Blend, and of all essential oil blends, this one is the most profound in terms of appreciating how much of an impact it has.
Deep Rest Blend is focused on mental and physical stillness and relaxation.
Deep Rest Blend includes frankincense essential oil – traditionally an oil used during meditation, lavender essential oil, ylang ylang essential oil and orange essential oil. You can place a few drops this blend onto a cotton square or tissue and tuck it inside your pillowslip for a restful night’s sleep (dn’t put it on the pillow slip, it it too strong to go directly on your skin and may well stain your linen. To relax sore tired overworked muscles, you could add essential oils that soothe and warm, such as ginger or black pepper, which are warming, increase blood circulation and allow physical relaxation – this blend would ideally be massaged in using a carrier oil as a base, along with the Deep Rest Blend – possibly with a drop of cedarwood essential oil added for an even more restful state. So you see, the nature of the blend is – always – customised to the sense of unrest and blended accordingly. Using just the core Deep Rest Blend will improve restfulness and is recommended for insomnia, worry (adding some of the core oils from the Calm Blend) & frequent awakening. Deep Rest Blend is recommended as the hero blend simply because with good sleep, most other conditions are able to be more easily managed. If you are wanting to try just one blend or oil, Deep Rest Blend is the one you should try – assuming you are finding it difficult to rest well. Just pick out the blend most suited to your needs right now, and progressively build you oil collection – it’s addictive, but in a good way! Enjoy, and please let me know if you have questions!